Fishing Blog primarily about fly fishing in the UK and USA. The objective is to promote the gentle art of casting the fly and catching beautiful fish. The author although a qualified fly fishing instructor with 40 years experience does not teach commercially but likes teaching and promoting fly fishing as a hobby.

Thursday, 19 September 2013

Fly Fishing a Chalk Stream Paradise, worth every mile!

As
things slowed down on the M25 motorway I asked myself “Is it worth driving over
100 miles for some fishing?”My answer
to myself was “I am going to a beautiful river, with crystal clear waters and
lush vegetation.I will probably meet
the odd friendly person fishing and see wonderful fish and enjoy the solitude
of standing in or by the river.If I can
trick a few fish into taking an artificial fly, steer them safely through the
river’s obstacle course and bring them to hand for a quick photo opportunity
and a safe release then it is all worth the miles!For a few brief hours I will be in paradise.

So
what happened?I parked up at the
recreation ground, noting another vehicle with a club sticker on the
windscreen.Having donned waders etc and
decided to use my old Sage 9 foot 4wt rod I headed for the river.At the bridge over the Ham Hatches I could
see the monster fish darting back and forth as they fed on the nymphs jetted
towards them by the water rushing through the hatch restrictions.Normally you cannot get a fly to them, but I
decided to try using the Czech nymph approach.I have never used that much as generally the waters I fish are not deep
enough.In the space of 15 minutes I had
hooked two twelve inch grayling, both released to grow on.

I
then walked downstream only to find a grandfather and his son in the river at the beat
I had fancied fishing.No problem, there
is plenty of river; I think the club has something like 26 miles of water.I asked if they minded me fishing 100 yards
upstream of them and they agreed.Having entered the water I then had a frustrating time of hooking trees
and vegetation and losing flies!This
was exasperated by the fact that my eyes were watering in the breeze and I was
having trouble getting the fine leader through the eye of tiny gold headed nymphs.Whilst all this was going on I kept quietly
moving upstream conscious of the two anglers downstream of me also wanting to
move upstream.Eventually it all came
together as having spotted a few brownies lying close to the bank I managed to
tempt one into a take.She immediately
(yes I think it was a female) took to the mass of vegetation and I managed to
swim her downstream through the ranunculi (up-steam would have been fatal, with
everything catching up). There was still
a bunch of vegetation wrapped around her head so rather than using my net I
brought her to hand and with the rod tucked under my arm proceeded to lift the
debris off her head.In doing so I also
must have released the hook because with one violent movement she was back in
the water, heading for safety!So no
photo opportunity for either of us!

I
then decided to take a break and drift back to the car for a sit down and a
sandwich.As I got back to the bridge I
found a middle aged lady standing on the bridge trotting bread down over the
very excited monsters below.I wasn’t
sure how to react, was it poaching or was there some local tradition that
allowed non club members to fish from the bridge?Anyway she was very pleasant and I wasn’t going
to spoil her day or mine by challenging her.So I watched.Eventually she
hooked up and landed a nice brownie of around a pound, after a quick photograph
I released it for her having made sure it had fully recovered from the
experience.By this time another couple
of fishing gents had arrived and I joked with them that I would probably be
sent to prison for aiding poaching!The
lady then departed to e mail the picture of the fish to her son on the other
side of the planet and I got to eat my sandwich.

After
a brief lunch I walked the bank upstream spotting fish lying in close to the
bank and trying to tempt them.When I
got to the wading section I quietly entered the water and slowly moved
upstream.At first I didn’t see much but
there were fish there and as my eyes adjusted to the light and conditions I
started to see plenty of fish.Whilst
standing next to a large bush, changing a fly, three large fish moved in, right
in front of me just a rod’s length away.They were in less than 18 inches of water.Keeping my movements to a minimum I started
casting trying to get the fly in the water a couple of yards upstream of
them.Then the phone rang and like a
fool I answered it.It was an update on
a burglary that had happened at a church I am an honoree facilities manager
for.I then tried to make a call and got
my old fishing pal, Richard by mistake.I told him where I was, he was at work.I mentioned the fish in front of me and he kindly recommended trying the
“induced take” method.I didn’t tell
him that the water was coming towards the fish at around 5 miles an hour!The lesson worth learning is “leave the phone
in the car”!

It was a big fish just under my rod tip.

Eventually
I spooked the fishes and returned to the car.I popped in to see my daughter and family at Andover on the way
home.In the car I had what we use to
call a soap box cart I had built and I wanted my seven year old grandson to get
to drive it.My session with him was a
great success; he started out a bit nervous about driving it but after about an
hour had mastered steering and was fairly good at stopping!So finally a rather tied granddad headed for
home.